Ah, what better remedy is there to a horrible day, a day full of the aches, pains and spluttering of illness and the mental trauma of a threatened redundancy than a hot bath, a cold ale and an album full of awesome Black Metal that is unashamed about heading straight for your neck in all its headbanging glory? Hailing from Denmark and featuring a couple of members from Death Metal dynamos Exmortem in their ranks, Horned Almighty seem determined to take the dullness from Black Metal and replace it with a lethal Luciferan energy from opening blast Vile Works Of Witchcraft onwards. As you’d expect from the genre given above, the band aren’t afraid of a little Black N’Roll, but as enjoyably catchy and necksnapping as Contaminating The Divine is, it never loses sight of the Black depths, whether in the frequent guitar solos, audible bass or clear Punk influence. One of the most obvious anchors to darkness is vocalist Smerte, who sounds like a Black Metal version of Gorefest’s Jan-Chris De Koeijer; gargling nails, his throaty roar rides the songs, fitting in perfectly with the driving guitars and drums.

If there’s a single downside to this album, it’s that it’s so one-dimensional. This is without question an album to be put on when you’re drinking with friends, or headbanging in the car – it absolutely doesn’t require silence, a darkened room, or headphones, which is something I rarely get to type when reviewing Black Metal these days! Whilst enjoyable as hell, Contaminating The Divine can sometimes seem slightly repetitive, as if riffs are reused, and songs are anything but varied. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter much – if you enjoyed recent albums from Khold and IXXI, then you’ll love this wholeheartedly and probably pull a muscle headbanging. Heck, even fans of the last Satyricon will enjoy this as a bridge between the two levels of hell, as it’s a perfect blend of catchiness and Black Metal. It’s easy to imagine His Infernal Majesty getting a little tired of all the depressive Black Metal out there and wanting to show Satanism’s fun side – Horned Almighty’s previous album, 2006’s The Devil’s Music, featured artwork showing Lucifer Himself rocking out on a flying V, and I can’t see Him enjoying this any less. Is there a better recommendation? Well, there’s a little fine-tuning to be done before Horned Almighty really become Satan’s house band, but in the meantime there’s plenty to enjoy.